General Use

The Q11 uses a pure vanilla Android build. Giada unfortunately hasn't implemented a custom interface to match the unit's characteristics better. While the standard Android interface is good in most cases, having some sort of media center interface would have been ideal considering the Q11 is mostly meant to be used as a multimedia station.


The easiest and fastest way to transfer files between a PC and the Giada is through AirDroid. The application unfortunately only supports portrait mode, but that isn't a big problem since the remote interface works just fine.


You have access to thousands of apps through the Google Play store, but beware: not all are compatible with the Q11. Many of them require a touch screen to function properly. Many apps are also only compatible with portrait mode.


Browsing the web (and not only the web) becomes far easier if you have a Bluetooth keyboard connected to the Q11. We used a Logitech diNovo Mini, which worked like a charm.


Pressing the bottom blue button on the remote control will open this file explorer through which you can watch multimedia files, listen to music, or browse local- and network folders.


The standard Android settings page.


We are crazy enough to install XBMC on the Q11. The result was catastrophic. Even the interface had a sluggish response. Needless to say that video reproduction was out of the question.


Running the 3D mark benchmark was impossible with such low-end hardware.


We installed ES File Explorer in order to see network shares and to copy files on them to the internal storage of the Q11. However, network file transfers through this program were sluggishly slow with an average of 500 KB/s. This isn't a hardware problem, but, rather, a software one since we achieved much higher network transfer speeds ranging from 25 to 35 Mbps through AirDroid (see the last of the above screenshots).


We used ES Task Manager to optimize the system.


Angry Birds wasn't such a pleasure this time around because there was no way to play the game with the bundled remote controller or the Logitech diNovo mini bluetooth keyboard we hooked up. Also, the frame rate was really low. The frame rate of the Air Attack HD game was, on the other hand, pretty good, but we were unfortunately unable to control the plane. Giada should provide a remote control similar to the ACRyan Veolo: It utilizes the uWand technology and is capable of 3D movements (like the Wii control).


We ran some benchmarks to evaluate the system's performance. Unfortunately, the results were as low as we expected.


AnTuTu and Quadrant benchmark results. As you can see, the Q11 registered very low scores on both.